Pennsylvania Chapter 75 interconnection is the statewide procedure. PECO, PPL, Duquesne Light, and the FirstEnergy companies still run their own portals, fees, and drawing quirks. If you pick Level 1 because “it is a house,” and the inverter is 12 kW certified, you filed the wrong request. If you draw a PPL DER box on a PECO job, you filed the wrong utility. The code and the EDC both have to be true.
Athol Energy files interconnection against permit design for Pennsylvania installers, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. We do not guess fees. We do not guess Levels.
Pennsylvania Chapter 75 interconnection Levels installers mix up
§ 75.32 says the customer submits the interconnection request to the EDC that owns the distribution system, and EDCs must accept electronic requests. File the company on the bill. Bethlehem city is often PPL. Bethlehem Township is often Met-Ed. Philadelphia is PECO. Pittsburgh is usually Duquesne. A wrong portal wastes the completeness clock.
§ 75.34 sets four procedures. Level 1: inverter-based, certified, 10 kW or less. Level 2: inverter, certified, 2 MW or less, radial or single-customer spot network, or a Level 1 that was not approved. Level 3: 2 MW or less that do not qualify for Level 1 or 2, or that failed those reviews. Level 4: requested when the job does not qualify for Level 1 or 2 and does not export beyond the PCC, including certain area-network paths. Technical standards in § 75.35 are IEEE 1547 and UL 1741 as amended. PPL’s 2026 SB language sits on top of that for PPL jobs. It does not change PECO’s form by itself.
Level 1 review (§ 75.37) gives the EDC 10 business days plus 15 business days of screen evaluation in the procedure text. If the original request can be shown as delivered but the EDC has no record, they must expedite to finish within 15 days of resubmittal. If Level 1 fails, you may submit a new request under Level 2, 3, or 4 without losing original queue position. That is the regulation. Portal practice can still feel like a new ticket. Keep your proof of the first submittal.
Level 2 (§ 75.38) runs a longer screen list, including service type, transformer connection, and aggregate generation versus posted stability limits (2 MW in the cited vicinity). If screens fail, the EDC must offer additional review with a nonbinding good-faith estimate of review and minor modification costs, and only proceed if the applicant agrees to pay. If still not approved, you may go to Level 3 or 4 and keep the Level 2 queue position.
Level 3 includes a scoping meeting within 10 business days (or as agreed) after completeness or after the customer asks to proceed following a failed Level 2 or 4. That is a meeting, not a new cartoon SLD. Bring the one-line you already have.
Level 4 area-network language matters in dense PECO and some urban pockets. For 10 kW or less on an area network, the EDC uses Level 1-like review plus a network impact study clock (20 business days in § 75.40). For greater than 10 kW through 50 kW, Level 2-like review plus 25 calendar days for the network study. If your Philadelphia service is a network, do not assume a suburban Level 1 form is enough.
Drawings Chapter 75 assumes you already have
The regulation does not replace PECO’s accessible disconnect, PPL’s DER Management Device, or Duquesne’s ban on hand-drawn one-lines. It assumes a complete request. In practice that is a computer-generated one-line, a site plan, certified inverter data, and the customer’s account. Match the municipal SLD. Conductor notes, PCC, and inverter model have to be the same story. If additional review adds a transformer, the site plan becomes construction and the UCC set must move.
Fees are not printed in § 75.32. They live in each EDC’s tariff and portal. Duquesne publishes Level fees on its application page. PECO and PPL publish theirs in current materials. [NEED SOURCE: PECO and PPL 2026 application fee tables.] Do not copy Duquesne’s $100 onto a PECO bid.
Inspection and PTO are still local
Chapter 75 expects an electrical inspection by the local wiring authority and a certificate of completion path. That inspector is the township agency or the city process (Philadelphia’s licensed agencies, Pittsburgh’s path, Allentown’s department). The EDC then meters and issues permission to operate. A UCC final is not PTO. An interconnection approval to install is not a building permit.
Send the bill, the AHJ, the inverter kW AC, certification, export versus non-export, and whether the service looks like a network. We will pick the Level, draw the EDC one-line, and keep the UCC set aligned.
A working checklist before you open the portal
1. EDC name from the bill, not from the mailing city. 2. Nameplate AC kW and whether the inverters are certified to the standard the EDC is using (UL 1741, and SB where that EDC requires it). 3. Export versus non-export, storage yes/no. 4. Radial, spot network, or area network, from photos and the EDC if you cannot tell. 5. Computer-generated one-line that matches the UCC SLD. 6. Site plan with PCC, meter, and accessible disconnect. 7. Cut sheets that match SKUs. 8. Fee for that EDC’s Level, not a copied fee from another company. 9. Letter of authorization if the installer is the agent. 10. Plan for Part 2: inspector, photos, meter.
If any item is missing, the completeness clock did not start, even if Chapter 75 gives a 10-day completeness window. Portals still return “incomplete.” Fix the file. Do not call GPC or DLC about “the study” when you omitted the one-line.
When screens fail, additional review is a paid choice. Get the good-faith estimate in writing. If the modification is a transformer, treat it as construction: pad, clearances, possibly a PE, a UCC revision. If the modification is a feeder reconductor off the property, keep it in the interconnection file. Map the cloud to the right drawing the same way we do for NY SIR cost exhibits.
Witness tests and manufacturer verification procedures show up on some EDC forms even when Level 1 feels residential. Put settings on the diagram. If firmware changes in the field, the as-built settings change. Chapter 75’s inspection language still expects the local wiring authority to sign. Bring that form to the EDC. A UCC card that never left the job trailer does not close Part 2.
Net metering tariffs sit beside Chapter 75. They are not a drawing title. Still, the one-line should show the meter the EDC will replace. Dual-service sites need the correct account. Wrong-meter arrays are a Pennsylvania classic across PECO, PPL, and Duquesne.
Keep a job-jacket checklist that names the Level, the EDC application number, the UCC permit number, and the inspector. When a PM says “it is approved,” ask which of those four they mean. Approval to install is not PTO. A UCC final is not PTO. A fee receipt is not completeness. Chapter 75’s clocks only help a complete request.
If you operate in all three IOU territories in one week, do not reuse one-line title blocks. PPL wants a DER device on 2026 applications. Duquesne refuses hand drawings. PECO hunts disconnect access and secondary voltage rise. Chapter 75 is the shared skeleton. The meat is still the EDC. Draw it that way and the Levels stop being a surprise at the portal.
Worked sequence for a 12 kW certified inverter house: Level 2, not Level 1, because you crossed 10 kW. File the EDC with a computer one-line that matches the township SLD. Pay that EDC’s Level 2 fee, not Duquesne’s table copied onto a PECO job. After install, get the local inspector’s form to the EDC, photos of disconnect and meter, then wait for PTO. If screens fail, read the additional-review estimate before you tell the owner it is “just a transformer.” That transformer may be a pad, a PE, and a UCC revision. Put the estimate in the job jacket next to the one-line so nobody “saves” the transformer off the drawings.
Pennsylvania Chapter 75 interconnection is the rulebook. The portal is the homework. Draw both correctly. Phone +1 (209) 266-2669. If two coordinators share a Pennsylvania book, print the Level on the cover sheet. A 9.8 kW certified inverter is Level 1. An 11 kW certified inverter is already Level 2. That one number changes fees, screens, and sometimes study language. The UCC inspector does not pick the Level. The EDC does, using Chapter 75. Your one-line has to agree with the request you actually filed, including whether the service is radial, a spot network, or an area network the screens will treat differently.